# Worst popular books **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 13, 2009, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-popular-books/517445 "2009-11-13T15:06:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-popular-books/517445/61 "2009-11-13T19:31:37Z")
> [@StoutHearted](#): > > **Running with Scissors** – I remember tons of hype around that book when it first came out and when the movie premiered. I finally got around reading it this year.. .and it is awful! Burroughs basically just tears apart everyone he ever knew as a child, and gives them few moments of humanity. Everyone’s dirty, stupid, perverted, and selfish, while Augusten looks down his nose at them all. Plus, his writing style is just terrible and better suited for TMZ than literature. Burroughs reminds me a lot of Gore Vidal in his writing, and I don’t mean that in a good way. Generally I think Vidal writes brilliant essays [whether I agree with them or not they’re usually well done] but I rarely care for his novels because they never seem _real_- it’s how I would imagine Sheldon from _Big Bang Theory_ would portray characters and emotions if Sheldon had to write a novel for some reason- an outsider looking in. I basically think all memoirs- at least the good ones- are basically autobiographical novels. Not even Abraham Lincoln or Amelia Earhart could write a memoir that was 100% true and not have lots of slow moments, and I think there’s a certain amount of embellishment that is not only fine but doesn’t even compromise the truth value. Sewing two or three events together in interest of narrative and time for example, or using dialogue to provide exposition and at the same time establish the character (nobody actually remembers word for word conversations from 25 years before) I see as fair as long as you have a disclaimer to that effect, and from my own writing and experiences I know that the stuff people usually call “Bullshit” are usually the least embellished. That said, I was calling “Bullshit” all the way through RUNNING WITH SCISSORS. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-popular-books/517445/62 "2009-11-13T19:32:51Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > I know, I stayed up all night reading it and hated every minute. Can’t explain it. Think it’s a horrible thing for young girls to read, though. We trashed it at bookclub for the same reasons, then decided that since we’d all read Flowers in the Attic at the Twilight age that perhaps we shouldn’t throw stones at glass houses. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-popular-books/517445/63 "2009-11-13T19:50:50Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > It was displayed in households as a patriotic symbol, but even then hardly anyone actually read it. It’s all but unreadable. I tried to read it once - I even inherited among a mass of history books a nifty pre-WW2 copy in English - and it was boring beyond belief. I was hoping for entertaining kill-'em-all style ranting. What I got was emo style whining. How on earth is this book considered “dangerous”, even to this day? It’s only dangerous because it could bore you to death. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-popular-books/517445/64 "2009-11-13T19:52:03Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > This is reaching way back, but **Jonathan Livingston Seagull**. How that book got onto, and remained on, the Best Seller List astonishes me. Some people just like their philosophy and mysticism in pre-digested form, I guess > > [Jonathan Livingston Seagull - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_livingstone_seagull) I loved that book - when I was 12. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-popular-books/517445/65 "2009-11-13T19:53:52Z")
Terry Brooks “Sword of Shannarra” - the ultimate Tolkien rip-off; unimaginative, poorly written in itself. Yet it sold tons and set up its author to grind out lots more. ugh. I can feel my blood pressure going up just thinking about it. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-popular-books/517445/66 "2009-11-13T19:54:27Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Practically every book by John Grisham, as far as I’m concerned. He’s a dreadfully dull writer, and his plots are idiotic. “Pelican Brief” is probably the worst of the bunch. Some of his books are Big Macs - nothing special, but okay for a quick bite. But “A Painted House,” holy shit. Can I get a plot? However, the worst book I’ve ever read is still Hannibal. Stupid, disgusting garbage. The worst book I’ve ver tried to read was Lisey’s Story. Smuck, smuck, smuck, smuck, smuck. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-popular-books/517445/67 "2009-11-13T19:58:21Z")
Oh good, nobody’s said mine. **Deep End of the Ocean** - oh man. It was a “throw across the room” bad book. I only read the whole thing because I was on vacation with nothing left to read. Has a completely unbelievable plot twist about 2/3 the way through, which should have been the end of the book. The book then inexplicably slogs on for another 100 pages and gets more and more pointless. I left it at my parents’ house when I was done and my mom read it and screamed “WHY DID YOU LEAVE THAT TERRIBLE BOOK HERE?!” Runner up: **Catcher in the Rye.** Good call. I have to say John Grisham is really hit or miss for some reason, but nothing he’s written would go in this category I wouldn’t think (though **The Client** was pretty damn bad.) I had to chuckle because when I read his **A Painted House** I was thinking: "This is just like a corny Oprah book…it’s almost as if he said: ‘Pfft, anyone can knock out one of those damn Oprah books’ and when I finished it I went “Hee hee. I see what you did there.” ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-popular-books/517445/68 "2009-11-13T20:01:21Z")
Can I get a vote in for “The Lovely Bones” – wait, is it Lovely or Lonely? – that Alice Sebold thing, whatever it’s title. That made me want to bathe in lye, bleach my eyeballs and gargle with Lysol. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-popular-books/517445/69 "2009-11-13T20:06:52Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > It’s basically written by a music geek for music geeks, and if the reader isn’t, he can’t get much within the book. You can’t read it as a novel. The plot is irrelevant, it’s just a vehicle for the inside jokes and stories for the record nerds. As such, it functions well, and for me it was a fine read. I wanted to track Nick Hornsby down and stab him in the face after reading the first third of that book. The main character was the whiniest, lamest, dumbest excuse for a character in any book ever. “Oh, hot ladies like me but they don’t understand me and my love for music proves that I’m special and waaaaaahhhhh!” Seriously, face stabbing was imminent. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-popular-books/517445/70 "2009-11-13T20:09:42Z")
I’d put _Sword of Shannara_ ahead of _Lord of the Rings_ as far as writing goes tbh - it’s sort of the anti LotR in some respects. Highly derivative, no creativity in world building, insubstantial but written in a competent, breezy fashion by a workmanlike writer - decent characterisation, pacing etc. LotR is a towering edifice of achievement and influence in many ways, but the good professor couldn’t write his way out of a wet paper bag. Samuel Delany’s \*Dhalgren \*was a bestseller in the 70s, though I guess few would read it now. I’ve posted before on what a headscratcher this is - really dense and marginal book to hit the bestsellers list. I like it because I’m a big admirer of Delany, but it is massively flawed and self-indulgent. Nabakov’s\* Pale fire\* wouldn’t be a popular book that’s widely read, but it is well known as a literary work. I’ve seldom picked up something so revered and been so disappointed. Confused even - just thought it was ham-fisted antisatirical garbage. Happy to concede that I’ve missed the point and need to read it again, because it is praised to the skies and I couldn’t see any quality there whatsoever. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-popular-books/517445/71 "2009-11-13T20:10:22Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > However, the worst book I’ve ever read is still Hannibal. Stupid, disgusting garbage. _Hannibal_ wasn’t the worst book I ever read, but it did have the highest expectation to disappointment ratio. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-popular-books/517445/72 "2009-11-13T20:18:48Z")
> [@tumbleddown](#): > > Can I get a vote in for “The Lovely Bones” – wait, is it Lovely or Lonely? – that Alice Sebold thing, whatever it’s title. That made me want to bathe in lye, bleach my eyeballs and gargle with Lysol. I’ll second that nomination… ---
**Author:** ![StoutHearted](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@StoutHearted](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StoutHearted)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-popular-books/517445/73 "2009-11-13T20:22:00Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > It’s been long enough since I read _The Bridges of Madison County_ that I couldn’t say whether it or _Twilight_ is more stupid, badly written, and boring. I’m inclined to name _Twilight_ as the absolute worst just because it was targeted at impressionable young girls and sends a terrible and dangerous message about romantic relationships. _The Bridges of Madison County_ does glamorize marital infidelity, but at least it doesn’t glamorize abuse. Someone gave me the sequel to _The Bridges of Madison County_ as a graduation gift, and I read it to be a good sport. I remember nothing about it, not even the title, so I think my brain is protecting me. But I think it was just 100+ pages of the main characters pining for each other. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-popular-books/517445/74 "2009-11-13T20:28:38Z")
Can we do non-fiction? My feelings about Hawking’s book for the general public are in this [post=10608325]post[/post]. Sold a zillion copies, and almost nobody understood it. Because Hawking is a bad writer. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-popular-books/517445/75 "2009-11-13T20:35:42Z")
I will second _The Kite Runner_. I didn’t _hate_ it, but I felt that it had some major problems - namely, that the villain was like a cardboard cutout of a bad guy. He seemed to have no reason for his behavior other than that it was evil muwahahahaha. I am a huge fan of Salman Rushdie, but I will say that _The Satanic Verses_ is one of my least favorite of his books. (I also didn’t like _The Ground Beneath Her Feet_ too much.) I seriously have no fucking idea what he was trying to say a lot of the time. I found _Running With Scissors_ annoying. I liked _The Lovely Bones_ and _Memoirs of a Geisha_ (much to my surprise), though. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-popular-books/517445/76 "2009-11-13T20:35:46Z")
While I liked the general story, I didn’t think Mary Shelley’s **Frankenstein** was very good. It featured various voices but they all sounded the same. Didn’t she write it in a weekend or something? And, anything by Nicholas Sparks. ::gag ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-popular-books/517445/77 "2009-11-13T20:43:50Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > And, anything by Nicholas Sparks. ::gag Oh GOD how could I have forgotten? _Message in a Bottle_ is the WORST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ. I think I was trying to repress the memory. I hated it so much that I don’t think I could be friends with someone who liked it. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-popular-books/517445/78 "2009-11-13T20:53:14Z")
> [@pbbth](#): > > I wanted to track Nick Hornsby down and stab him in the face after reading the first third of that book. The main character was the whiniest, lamest, dumbest excuse for a character in any book ever. “Oh, hot ladies like me but they don’t understand me and my love for music proves that I’m special and waaaaaahhhhh!” Seriously, face stabbing was imminent. So, eh, you are not into record collecting? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-popular-books/517445/79 "2009-11-13T20:57:46Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > I will second _The Kite Runner_. I didn’t _hate_ it, but I felt that it had some major problems - namely, that the villain was like a cardboard cutout of a bad guy. He seemed to have no reason for his behavior other than that it was evil muwahahahaha. Same here- evil Nazi rapist on holiday basically. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-popular-books/517445/80 "2009-11-13T20:59:03Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > However, the worst book I’ve ever read is still Hannibal. Pick up _Hannibal Rising_ sometime. First book I ever gave one star to on Amazon and that because no-stars was not an option. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-popular-books/517445.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-popular-books/517445.md?page=5)